Tensegrity is the peculiar internal tension holding upright a structure that appears on the delicate brink of collapse. In this story, that structure is a social media influencer named Jason. Tensegrity: noun ARCHITECTURE the characteristic property of a stable three-dimensional structure consisting of members under tension that are contiguous and members under compression that are not.

From the cabin of her semi, gliding along the desert highway, Jolene's eyes are settled on the blurry distance. Until one day, when, paused in a throb of traffic, she spots a tiny thing camouflaged against the roadside scrub. Motherly instinct drags her out into the midday heat, where she catches a teetering little girl, mid collapse.

Poorly Imagined Life is the story of an old man and a young man. They don't know one another (but are eager in their assumptions, from surreptitious distance). And, of Denea, the thread that lassos them together at the ankles. “Would you want to live forever?” she asks him, out of nowhere. Watch visual podcast on Youtube here:  Read along in full here

Surface Tension is the story of a man, blinking and frozen amidst the fury of a race riot. In part one, we rewind him into a child. We speed back up in part two and shoot him back into his paralytic, furious present. “Whiskey? Lemme tell you bout drinkin whiskey. Stuff’ll put hair on your back! Your great grandad knew everything was to know bout drinkin whiskey, so I learnt from the best.” ~ Our hero’s grandfather, way back in the beginning.

Episode 5 is the story of a fourteen year old girl named Aema, as told by her grandfather.  He is telling himself that he's doing his best to portray her in an honest, and sympathetic light.  He's telling himself this, because he's not telling her anything. Watch Visual Podcast on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/P_d8tbe6GrI Read along in full here: http://nicklamendola.com/to-my-love-a-portrait-short-story

Story Four is the working title for the first piece of writing our protagonist has considered showing to the outside world.  Its main character is an aspiring writer, working on a character.  He writes about the character his character is writing about, in a way that makes it obvious that in writing about his character, he is writing about himself. Watch Visual Podcast on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpPJ8XDAH0 Read along in full here: http://nicklamendola.com/story-4-short-sto

Episode 3 takes place on the shore of a frozen lake, where five people find themselves stumbling through the bleary projections of a wicked, haunted old house. “Second floor had a real bad draft.” - Frank, two weeks later, who still wouldn’t admit he’d seen or heard anything unusual.

Episode 2 is the story of a young girl plucked out of a comfortable present and into a lonely, desolate future. "The tricky thing about the apocalypse is, it's hard to tell if you're looking at its nasty face lumbering towards ya or the big, pimply ass it drags behind." - Mr. Rodney Watch Visual Podcast on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XSoHc8nNBE&t=73s  Read along in full here: http://nicklamendola.com/heat-short-story

Episode 1 is about a woman named Malayah, and her introduction to a mind altering time travel technology. “With the press of a button you will be transported through time towards a moment of your choosing, later or much later, out of this life and into a new one.” Watch visual podcast on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThKAlqQOMs Read along in full here: http://nicklamendola.com/the-watch-short-story